Business

Krispy Kreme will open eight stores in the Chicago area through an agreement with a franchisee. The Winston-Salem-based doughnut company exited the Chicago market in 2008, after a separate franchisee filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and closed its shops.

Duke Energy announced plans to remove coal ash from 12 ponds, mostly from its plants in Chatham County and Goldsboro. Most of the ash would be stored in open-pit clay mines in Chatham and Lee counties. The utility began excavating ash from its Riverbend power plant near Charlotte last month.

N.C. Treasurer Janet Cowell plans to hire small, emerging investment firms, with a focus on minority and woman-owned companies, to manage $200 million in private-equity investments. Cowell says the program will build on the success of one started in 2013 that tapped small and emerging firms to handle public-equity investments.

Cary-based SAS and Kimley-Horn and Associates and Matthews-based Elevation Church were among the top 50 on Fortune magazine's inaugural list of Best Workplaces for Millennials. The list was based on survey responses from nearly 90,000 employees under age 35..

Charlotte will host the 2017 NBA All-Star Weekend, an event that attracts thousands of basketball fans from across the country. Other cities that have hosted the game have seen an economic impact of around $100 million. Charlotte City Council last fall approved spending $27.5 million over five years for renovations at Time Warner Cable Arena, which will host the February event. Related: Charlotte businesses could see sales boost from 2017 NBA All-Star Game

Live Oak Banshares plans to raise $86.2 million in an initial public offering, according to a statement filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The parent of Wilmington-based Live Oak Bank, an SBA lender, filed for an IPO last April but changed its plans after receiving an investment from Boston-based Wellington Management.

The Cary campus of insurer MetLife is now officially open. The New York-based company unveiled two buildings on 26.5 acres where it employs more than 1,000 people. Raleigh-based Highwoods Properties built the $110 million campus. MetLife announced in 2013 it was adding more than 2,600 jobs in Cary and Charlotte; the company was awarded more than $94 million in incentives.

BB&T completed its $363 million purchase of The Bank of Kentucky, gaining about $1.9 billion in assets and 32 branches. One of the offices is in Cincinnati, where CEO Kelly King said BB&T will look to add more branches. The Winston-Salem-based bank is still awaiting regulatory approval of its planned $2.5 billion acquisition of Pennsylvania-based Susquehanna Bancshares, which is expected to close in the third quarter.